Checkers to Test-Drive 6 New Burgers

Double-drive-thru chain Checkers (or Rally’s, depending on where you live) has unveiled plans to do a limited test launch of 6 new premium cheeseburgers. Dubbed the Flavor Built Burgers, the new menu items will feature top-shelf ingredients and toppings and be offered exclusively at 18 restaurants in the chain’s home state of Florida.

“At Checkers, we have built our reputation on flavor,” CEO Rick Silva said in a statement. “We truly believe our guests are going to be wowed by our new savory Flavor Built Burgers, and we couldn’t be more excited to unveil them in our South Florida restaurants first.”

The new lineup, available only in the counties of Palm Beach and Broward for now, includes:

The Bacon Cheddar Works: Two types of bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, and other toppings. This one has been announced as having an initial price tag of $2.99, while the others have not yet had their prices set.

“The intense flavors in our Flavor Built Burgers are what you would expect to find at a sit-down restaurant, except without the wait and at a lower price,” Silva boasted. Each of the new cheebies is available as a single-, double-, or triple-patty burger.

Interestingly, as Nation’s Restaurant News has revealed, this latest premium burger rollout comes right on the heels of a report by the NPD Group (a big-time market research firm) suggesting that fast-food outlets are hurrying new higher-priced (and more profitable) items like these onto their menus as a way to steer customers away from the deeply-discounted products they were touting during the recession.

So what do you think, Cheeseburger Nation??? Which one of Checkers’ new Flavor Built Burgers looks best?